William Direen
Encyclopedia
William Direen is a New Zealand
-born (1957) writer and musician whose work includes poetry, fiction, songs and music-theatre pieces. He was 2010 Fellow at the Michael King
Writers Centre in Auckland
, New Zealand and has been musical designer/manager of a music group The Bilders
(rock, 70s garage, music-theatre) since 1980.
, Blue Ladder Theatre, which put on or workshopped plays such as Les Cenci (Bride of the Wheel) video extracts, Timon of Athens, and his own plays Bitumen, Fowkes Alive, Dial a Claw, and Raoul, which all toured nationally.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
-born (1957) writer and musician whose work includes poetry, fiction, songs and music-theatre pieces. He was 2010 Fellow at the Michael King
Michael King
Michael King, OBE was a New Zealand popular historian, author and biographer. He wrote or edited over 30 books on New Zealand topics, including The Penguin History of New Zealand, which was the most popular New Zealand book of 2004.-Life:King was born in Wellington to Eleanor and Commander Lewis...
Writers Centre in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand and has been musical designer/manager of a music group The Bilders
The Bilders
The Bilders is the name for lineups of musicians led by a New Zealand singer-songwriter. The first Bilders sprang from the group Vacuum and is known under other names such as Kazaportico, Above Ground, Bilderbergers, Builders, Soluble Fish and Bilders Paris Sessions...
(rock, 70s garage, music-theatre) since 1980.
Music-Theatre
In 1984 he opened a small alternative theatre-gallery in ChristchurchChristchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, Blue Ladder Theatre, which put on or workshopped plays such as Les Cenci (Bride of the Wheel) video extracts, Timon of Athens, and his own plays Bitumen, Fowkes Alive, Dial a Claw, and Raoul, which all toured nationally.
Fiction
His first novel Wormwood (1997) tells of a Yugoslavian refugee in Berlin. Nusquama (2002) relates different generations pertaining to a fictitious West Coast (NZ) rock band. Others include Jules (2003), a novel set in Paris, and the futuristic sci-fi Song of the Brakeman (2006). Shorter work includes Digging Groundhttp://william.direen.online.fr/html/media/digginggroundDIREEN.pdf, Sunshower, and Coma. His most recent works are Devonport, A Diary (2011), a novella set in a futuristic New Zealand, called L (2010), and Enclosures, a transgeneric novel in five parts (2008).Publications
- Devonport, A Diary Impressions of Devonport, Auckland, during the tenure of a Fellowship at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2010. (Signalmans House Series Nº.1, Holloway Press, University of Auckland, 2011) ISBN 978-0-9864618-0-4
- L Novella, appears in an anthology of NZ speculative fiction writers 'A Foreign Country'. Random Static (Anna Caro & Juliet Buchanan, editors). 2010. ISBN 978-0-473-16916-9
- Enclosures Transgeneric novel in five parts. (Titus BooksTitus Books (publisher)Titus Books is an independent publisher based in Auckland, New Zealand. Founded in 2005, it was noted by reviewer Katherine Liddy in Landfall as an "exciting" addition to New Zealand literature....
). 2008. ISBN 978-1-877441-06-6 - Song of the Brakeman Apocalyptic vision of a future South Pacific. Science fiction novel. (Titus Books. 2006) ISBN 0-9582586-7-8
- Coma Three novellas: a female voice narrative of a casualty at a rock concert; the voice of a gravedigger on a barren island; the voice of an overweight hitchhiker. (Titus Books, 2005). ISBN 0-9582586-0-0
- Jules 24 hours in the mind of an art teacher in Paris. Novel. (Alpha/Addenda). 2002. ISBN 0-9583266-4-9
- Nusquama Pop-band road-novel (Alpha/Addenda, 1999). ISBN 0-9583266-8-1
- Wormwood Yugoslavian refugee falls foul of the Berlin underworld. Novel. SPORT 1997. ISSN 0113-7891
- Some volumes of poetry have appeared between 1988 (Nags Head Press) and the present. A volume of poems relating to the city of Dunedin is imminent (Kilmog Press).
- Editor of Percutio Annual journal (ed.). Poetry, fiction extracts, translations & versions, essays, reviews, history. Multi-lingual. 2006, -07, -08, -09, -10. ISSN 1953-1427.
- Guest Editor of LandfallLandfall (journal)Landfall is New Zealand's oldest extant literary journal. First published in 1947 by Caxton Press, under the editorship of Charles Brasch, it features new fiction and poetry, biographical and critical essays, cultural commentary, and reviews of books, art, film, drama and dance.Additionally, the...
219 'On Music'. ISBN (N.B. this issue only) 978-1-877372 98-8 - Guest Editor of Brief 36 and Brief 42. ISSN 1175-9313.
Critical Responses
- To Blue Ladder Theatre: “hard driving rhythms and surreal imagery”.
- James K. Baxter’s Three Mimes “receive[d] intelligent and effective treatment”.
- To Bitumen “an evocative memory piece… strong on physical sensations”.
- To Fowkes Alive: “a struggle against primeval and futuristic obstacles”, “a gentle ‘musical delirium’ which raises smiles rather than laughter”, “the surrealistic tale of a ‘petrolhead’ whose life flashes before his eyes the moment that he dies in a violent accident”
- To Dial a Claw: “a living experiment in alternative staging”;
- To Raoul: “an exploration of exploitation”, a story told “from its beginnings in the wastelands of kiwi suburbia to its chilly… conclusion.”.
- To Wormwood: “Entropy and death read as metaphors for the implosion of post-war Europe and the failure of capitalism.”.
- To Nusquama: “A well-written often humorous paradigm for the 21st century”.
- To The Impossible: “Direen’s heightened ear for absurdity serves this collection well”
- To Jules: “Romantic stereotypes collide noisily with modern realities and growing older means a confused prostate and even more complexing emotions. Jules is the story of a man at life’s pivotal point.”. "It's a delightful book, but it's a book to read as series of literary compositions." Jules was also described as “an indolent digression through European culture, art and Paris.”
- To the novellas: “a quick and devastating appearance”
- To Song of the Brakeman: “a vividly conceived world here, manifesting slowly and brilliantly through its accumulating signs”
External links
- Devonport, A Diary Holloway Press (publisher).
- Dunedin Poems Kilmog Press (publisher).
- http://titus.books.online.fr/Recent writing Titus Books (publisher)Titus Books (publisher)Titus Books is an independent publisher based in Auckland, New Zealand. Founded in 2005, it was noted by reviewer Katherine Liddy in Landfall as an "exciting" addition to New Zealand literature....
.] - William Direen interview by Scott Hamilton for the Cultural Icons project. Audio and video.
- Writer Profile on New Zealand Book Council website
- Personal website